We simply asked the property owners if we could use their buildings in effort to show off the area and their spaces. It was a great opportunity to show the property owners that breaking up the building into smaller spaces works well for small retail. Also, the more we went along, the more open to our ideas they were. We asked for small improvements and they made them, and they even assigned their maintenance worker to help us during the event which turned out very helpful.

We will be power washing the stripes. We were demonstrating reverse angle parking at the event, but without permanent signs cars will pull in head first.

We partnered with Pelco Products for the street lamps, benches and trash cans. There were 3 street lamps that were broken, and Pelco replaced the actual lamps. It’s our hope the property owner decides to purchase them considering the free installation and discount they will get. Actually, I noticed the maintenance worker Friday night was still working when I left and I asked him why. He mentioned they noticed how dark the building was and he was looking at installing lights on the building.

Who paid for the event- ULI Oklahoma presented Better Block, and we specifically raised funds ($3500) through sponsorship to pay for the event.

So, overall the event is a demonstration to the community and city leaders to show how our streets can be used for good on so many levels of economic development and quality of life. I imagine we will be seeing some stories over the next few weeks of impacts the event has made, and we will be reporting them!

regardless of the answers (which i really would like to have), i think it was a good idea to show what we can do. how about doing this stuff for keeps?